Lin­gui­ni With Shrimp and Clams

(serves four generously)

2 dozen lit­tle­neck clams, care­ful­ly washed
1 1/2 pound large uncooked shrimp, shells on

3 tbsps butter
6 cloves gar­lic, fine­ly minced
2 large shal­lots, fine­ly minced
2 tbsps fine­ly chopped Ital­ian flat-leaf parsley
1/2 tsp crushed red pep­per flakes
12 ounces good white wine
12 ounces clam juice
12 ounces chick­en broth
2 tbsps sour cream
3/4 lb linguini

In a large skil­let with a lid, melt but­ter and saute gar­lic and shal­lots gen­tly until soft. Add red pep­per flakes and pars­ley (reserve a pinch or two of pars­ley to sprin­kle on the fin­ished dish) and stir till every­thing is coat­ed in but­ter, then add white wine and turn the heat up until the wine sim­mers high. After five min­utes, add the clam juice and the chick­en broth and heat until sim­mer­ing high. Now add the clams and cov­er with a lid.

I hap­pened to have a glass lid, so I could see through it to mon­i­tor clams open­ing. But a gen­er­al rule is that the first clams will start to pop open after about 5 min­utes. You don’t have to be obses­sive about this, but try to remove clams as soon as pos­si­ble after open­ing. So per­haps open the lid after 6 min­utes and remove the opened ones, then again after a cou­ple of min­utes, and so on until all clams are cooked and removed.

Now you can wait until just before eat­ing to do any­thing but let the sauce sim­mer. When you want to eat in 10 min­utes, put the lin­gui­ni into boil­ing water and whisk the sour cream into the sauce. Then put the shrimps into the sim­mer­ing sauce. Stir and toss about until the shrimps are com­plete­ly pink all over (about five min­utes). Now add the clams, then drain the pas­ta and add to the shell­fish and sauce. Toss and sprin­kle on reserved parsley.

You can serve direct­ly into bowls and ladle on sauce, or pour into a large serv­ing bowl and let guests serve them­selves. HEAVEN!